Expert Type: Visiting Fellows and Other Experts

Jacob Leibenluft is a visiting fellow at the Washington Center for Equitable Growth. Previously, he was the executive associate director of the Office of Management and Budget during the Biden administration, responsible for coordinating day-to-day budget policy work at the agency. He also served at the U.S. Department of the Treasury as a counselor to Secretary Janet Yellen and as chief recovery officer, where he led Treasury's efforts to disburse more than $400 billion in American Rescue Plan and other COVID-19 relief funds. For this work, he received the Alexander Hamilton Award, Treasury's highest honor. In the Obama White House, Leibenluft served in several roles at the National Economic Council, including deputy director of the council and deputy assistant to the president. Between the Obama and Biden administrations, he had several roles at think tanks, including executive vice president for policy at the Center for American Progress, senior advisor at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, and research fellow at the New York University School of Law's Institute for Corporate Governance and Finance. Leibenluft earned his B.A. in economics and history from Yale University.

April Burrage is a provostial fellow at Stanford University in the Management Science and Engineering department and a 2025 AEA summer economics fellow at the Washington Center for Equitable Growth. Burrage’s research explores the institutional foundations of entrepreneurial opportunity and innovation, with a focus on how policies shape pathways for emerging tech entrepreneurs. Her current work investigates the effects of innovation policy on tech entrepreneurship and the motivations driving Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math, or STEM, professionals to commercialize scientific ideas. Her research has been published in Research Policy, Journal of Economics and Management Strategy, and cited in Brookings Institution. Burrage holds a Ph.D. in economics from the University of Massachusetts Amherst.

Nicole Lindler is a leading housing and economic policy expert. She most recently served in the Biden-Harris administration as principal deputy executive secretary at the U.S. Department of the Treasury and senior advisor at the Department of Housing and Urban Development. Her accomplishments include supporting national housing supply strategies and policies to ensure the continued economic prosperity and financial security of the United States. Previously, Lindler served as policy advisor to San Francisco Mayor London Breed, developing solutions to produce, preserve, and protect lasting affordable housing within the city including launching the largest expansion of the city’s homeless response system in more than 30 years. She has been recognized by major publications, including a recent feature in Forbes. Lindler holds a B.S. in business administration from the Marshall School of Business at the University of Southern California and an M.P.A in public affairs from the Goldman School of Public Policy at the University of California, Berkeley.

Rajesh D. Nayak is a fellow at the Center for Labor and a Just Economy at Harvard Law School and a consultant on labor policy and organizational transitions. Most recently, Nayak served as the assistant secretary for policy at the U.S. Department of Labor, overseeing the department’s regulatory agenda, forward-looking policy development, and evaluation offices. He previously served in a range of senior roles at the Labor Department during the Obama-Biden administration, including as the Secretary of Labor’s Deputy Chief of Staff, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Policy, and Senior Counsel to the Solicitor.

Outside of government, Nayak has worked in nonprofit organizations both as an attorney and a senior leader. He was the deputy executive director of the National Employment Law Project, where he helped to lead the organization’s restructuring and managed its senior leadership. He previously worked as an attorney at NELP, the Brennan Center for Justice at NYU School of Law, and the Shriver Center in Chicago.

Nayak earned an undergraduate degree in public policy from the University of Chicago and a law degree from Yale.

Ernie Tedeschi was the chief economist at the White House Council of Economic Advisers until March 2024. Prior to CEA, he was managing director and head of fiscal analysis at Evercore ISI, a macro advisory firm. He was also previously an economist at the U.S. Department of the Treasury. He holds a B.A in public policy and economics from Stanford University and an M.P.P. from the University of California, Berkeley.

Michael Linden is a senior policy fellow at the Washington Center for Equitable Growth. He has more than 15 years of experience in economic policy roles, ranging from government service to think tanks to advocacy organizations. Immediately prior to joining Equitable Growth, Linden served in the Biden Administration and was a senior advisor and then the executive associate director at the White House Office of Management and Budget, where he worked on a wide array of public policies and was integrally involved in producing the President’s budget. Linden also previously served as a senior advisor on the Senate Budget and Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pension Committees under the leadership of Sen. Patty Murray. Linden was the founding Executive Director of the Groundwork Collaborative, as well as the inaugural managing director for policy and research at The Hub Project. He also was the managing director of economic policy at the Center for American Progress. Linden earned his B.A. in political science and government from Brown University, and his Master of Public Policy from the Goldman School of Public Policy at the University of California, Berkeley.